Simon Lusk's Plan

CHAPTER 5 SIMON LUSK’S PLAN Simon Lusk had been watching US Republican politics for years and looking for ideas that were applicable to New Zealand. Gradually he put together a plan to move the country’s politics to the right. He laid this out in conver- sations with his close political allies and in a three-page strategy paper that was never intended to be made public. The plan was practical and methodical. The idea was to target candidate selection processes in safe National seats, installing a rump of hard right candidates who would influence politics for many years to come. Suitable candidates could also be found and trained for local government elections. At the same time, a pool of younger people would be identified, cultivated and guided into right-wing politics. Each of these groups would be managed and supported by professional strategy advisers, notably Lusk himself. Such figures were familiar in US politics but not in New Zealand. Lusk was also well aware, from his American observations, that the single greatest advantage of right-wing parties and candidates was their ability to greatly outspend their opponents with support from wealthy and corporate donors. Fundraising was central to the plan. Next, the right could dominate the media by the dominance of right-wing blogs: ‘the right currently controls the blogosphere,’ he wrote, ‘and political journalists repeat much of what appears on blogs.’ The blogs were part of the second track of politics available for ‘black ops’ and nega- tive campaigning. Finally, his plan involved ‘weakening the power of those who believe in big government’, meaning deliberate strategies and tactics to margin- alise anyone, even within the National Party itself, who did not hold hard right views. All the strands required long-term effort, he argued, ‘investing for at least 20 years’ to ensure these changes to the political environment are permanent.1 55 DIRTY POLITICS Lusk was very much a successor of the advisers seen around National leader Don Brash in The Hollow Men,who saw their role as moving the party and New Zealand politics to the right. Like them, Lusk understood that he lived in a country where the hard right ACT Party could attract only about 1 per cent of voters and where the majority consistently supported more moderate policies, including publicly provided health, education and social support. His plan needed to be implemented by stealth. The difference between Lusk and many big ideas people is that he actually got things done. His first attempt as a professional strategy adviser had been the 2008 election, when he assisted the election campaigns of six conservative National Party candidates, four of whom won.2 These included Sam Lotu-Iiga and Louise Upston: Lusk was campaign manager for Upston and ‘shrewd counsel’ to Lotu-Iiga.3 Both of them proved to be socially and economically on the right of the party, with Lotu-Iiga working closely with ACT MPs and both voting against the 2013 Marriage Equality Bill.4 In the following years, Lusk continued to work as a mentor for some MPs, for instance Lotu-Iiga, who personally paid him a retainer for the service.5 Some Cabinet ministers had misgivings about Lusk’s growing influence; they believed him to have links to 13 National MPs. This was discussed at the 27 June 2011 Cabinet meeting and a message was sent to all MPs discouraging them from paying for Lusk’s services. MPs, including Lotu-Iiga, stopped paying the retainer but remained in contact with Lusk. Meanwhile another minister, Judith Collins, reportedly heard the Cabinet discussion and resolved to make contact with Lusk. She saw him as having influence over 13 caucus votes in a post-John Key leadership bid.6 Although sometimes, like Slater, a controversial figure, Lusk was nonethe- less thoroughly within the National Party, part of the hard right wing then associated with Collins. Shortly after the 2008 election, when Lusk and Slater had become friends, the latter arranged for Lusk to meet his father, John. Lusk reported back that it ‘went bloody well with your father, I am planning to talk to him further about professionalising politics in Auckland (which won’t cost much at all) to really smash the left.’7 By 2011 Lusk was being paid by a new set of candidates to help them win selection for National in that year’s election. Early on a Saturday evening in January Lusk and Slater were chatting via Facebook about Lusk’s latest success, the selection of Jami-Lee Ross for a by-election in the safe National seat of Botany. Slater wrote that he had received the ‘utu post’.8 This was a specialty of 56 SIMON LUSK’S PLAN Lusk’s where he wrote, under Slater’s name, what he publicly called a ‘lessons post’ about the selection process – when it was over. He told Slater to ‘change anything you like, and beef it up a bit. There has to be consequences to people’s actions.’9 The utu post, which appeared on the Whale Oil blog the next day, said Jami-Lee Ross was the ‘winner on the night and likely to have a long career as an MP’.10 In contrast, Slater’s friend Aaron Bhatnagar needed to get new advisers and ‘break his habit of playing dirty’. Slater had added some words to make the criticism easier for Bhatnagar: ‘Aaron is a mate and so hopefully he will take this commentary as it is intended, cold hard facts from the Whale, acting as a mate.’ But Slater could be surprisingly disloyal to his friends. In this same Facebook discussion he wrote about Bhatnagar: ‘What a loser, he couldn’t even win WITH daddy’s money, you think Zac Goldsmith would have ever stood in a seat he couldn’t win. Rich people don’t lose selections unless they are fucking hopeless or fucking stupid. He lost to a maori and that is even funnier.’11 The utu post also suggested that another selection candidate, former broad- caster, Maggie Barry needed to ‘get some proper advisers’. But the strongest criticism was reserved for Bhatnagar’s political adviser, Hamish Price, ‘a nasty, offensive and divisive self important fool of a man that should be avoided at all costs by any candidate’. After dumping on his adviser competition, Lusk wrote: ‘If Maggie does decide to pursue a career with National she should do what this blog recommends to all candidates. Get proper professional advice from discreet and competent people with a track record of winning. There are a number of people who work behind the scenes and shun publicity, and candidates can call the tip line for their details.’12 This sounds like Lusk advertising for paying work. But more important to him was building his ‘loose alliance of committed fiscal conservatives’, the group of right-wing MPs who, under his guidance, would help to move the National Party permanently to the right. This was the post about which Judith Collins wrote to Slater, ‘Loved the utu post.’ Slater said cheerfully, ‘Shit this utu post is going to cause some rumbles. Chaos and mayhem.’13 After discussing the utu post, Lusk said to Slater, ‘I reckon i can get a few candidates paying you to sort out their facebook pages, could be a nice little earner through the entire cycle.’ He continued, ‘I can sort out Mark no worries, he doesn’t mind spending.’14 Mark was Mark Mitchell, another of Lusk’s paying clients, who was competing for selection in the safe National Party seat of Rodney, where long-time MP Lockwood Smith had decided not to stand again. Mitchell was a good example of the hard right MP grouping 57 DIRTY POLITICS Lusk was trying to build. ‘I’d really like to have him win to prove it can be done, and that you and i are crucial in peoples career.’15 Over the following weeks Lusk and Slater wrote over 20 Whale Oil posts about the Rodney electorate selection process, attacking first a local candidate and front runner named Brent Robinson, then the other front runner, Scott Simpson, and also various party officials who were standing in the way of Lusk’s client. Here are Lusk and Slater at the beginning of the Rodney selection campaign. Simon Lusk: i want to see mark selected, but if brent plays fair i am going to play fair…. obviously with the option of playing the man if we decide it is necessary Cameron Slater: well [what about] a post about sometimes when an MP has been there forever it is time to look outside the party hierarchy because the MP has stifled the best Simon Lusk: yes, and that we need a genuine star, someone that has made it on a global scale … and while brent is a willing toiler for the party, we must stop selecting second raters Cameron Slater: you’ve got it Simon Lusk: We’ll have a proper post when we pull the trigger, nice but create doubts in the minds of the delegates … frame the race as a very successful man who is turning down millions a year to do the best he can for NZ… Cameron Slater: successful but tough Simon Lusk: yes, is excellent under pressure Cameron Slater: not a panty-waist … we can sex it up with the war stories then the media will pick it up.16 Mark Mitchell, the man they were promoting, had been a New Zealand police officer and dog handler until 2002, when he moved to the Middle East after the 2003 Iraq invasion.

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